Bioenergy

Bioenergy is derived from biomass to generate electricity and heat, or to produce liquid fuels for transport. Biomass is any organic matter of recently living plant or animal origin. It is available in many forms such as agricultural products, forestry products, municipal and other waste.

Traditionally, woody biomass has been used for bioenergy, however more recent technologies have expanded the potential resources to include agricultural residues, oil seeds and algae.

These advanced bioenergy technologies allow for the sustainable development of the bioenergy industry, without competing with the traditional agricultural industry for land and resources.

Here is just a sample of what our bioenergy projects are achieving. The University of Melbourne has developed technology that produces biodiesel from microalgal biomass. This cost effective conversion of the inedible plant material into liquid fuels could reduce Australia’s reliance on fuel imports as well as reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the transport industry. Other projects have also tested or trialled new processing and electricity production in waste water treatments.

How is bioenergy used in Australia?

Some bioenergy technologies are well established in Australia and are currently in commercial use. Bioenergy currently accounts for nearly 1% of Australia’s electricity production, and 7% of renewable electricity production. Biofuels account for approximately 1-3% of Australia’s fuel consumption. There is great potential in this renewable energy source.

Related project: Utilising biogas in sugarcane transport and milling

The project aims to develop technologies to further integrate bioenergy into the sugarcane production, transport and milling process to lower costs and emission intensity.

Australia’s sugar industry is worth more than $2 billion per year and is the third largest exporter of raw sugar globally. While the industry produces considerable renewable energy (electricity and steam) from bagasse, further opportunities exist to utilise sugarcane trash, or field residues remaining after harvesting. This is currently considered to be an uneconomic way of generating energy.

Australia and the broader global community are searching for viable, sustainable alternatives to fossil oil as future sources of liquid fuels, and to develop superior solutions to biofuels currently produced from food crops such as corn-based ethanol and biodiesel from palm oil.

The aim of project was to scale-up Muradel’s marine microalgae to biofuel technology to demonstration scale and develop an investment case. Muradel was able to build and operate a demonstration scale facility to assess the commercial feasibility of converting microalgae to biocrude.

About Arena

Here at ARENA, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, we work to accelerate Australia’s shift to an affordable and reliable renewable energy future.

We do this by funding projects and sharing knowledge that drives innovation and commercialisation of renewable energy technologies.